Work · Jean-Paul Sartre
Critique of Dialectical Reason II: The Intelligibility of History
Sartre continues examining praxis, conflict and history, asking how to understand totalizations exceeding each individual.
Understanding the text
An unfinished manuscript published posthumously by Arlette Elkaïm-Sartre, not a systematic closure of volume I.
Key points
- 01
Conflict
Opposed projects form intelligible relationships without sharing intentions.
- 02
Totalization
History is in the making, not a completed totality viewed from outside.
- 03
Mediation
Events connect individuals, groups and material conditions.
How to read it
Read the editorial apparatus and preserve interruptions as evidence of the work's unfinished state.
Editions & sources
Summaries and key points are original editorial interpretations. They accompany reading the work and do not replace an edition of the text. Editorial method ↗